Jane Actually

Sensibility
and she ridiculing Edward’s passivity.
    He lost his temper, he now admitted, and he recalled how like an Austen character he called her an “insufferable woman,” a phrase that made him smile and realize that it was he who had overreacted. All her arguments had been calm and reasoned while he argued with emotion. He sought her out and apologized and they had become fast friends. She later admitted that her regard for Edward was not reflected in her arguments. She liked Edward in general, but did not wholly condone his character.
    All this was new to Albert, this dissection of Austen. He had enjoyed Austen since his discovery of her while in hospital. His memory was that he held
Persuasion
in his hands as he drew his last breath, and that he died without the knowledge of the reunion of Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth. It was not until two years later that he could confirm their happiness and it was one of the few joys he could remember from those dark days.
    It was understandable then, that his enjoyment of Austen was uncritical. She gave him joy and beauty at a time when he languished in the hell of the trenches and finally as he lay dying in the influenza wards. And over the decades, he had reread those six novels whenever he found someone enjoying them. He recalled the joy of finding someone reading Austen for the first time and enjoying her; and the misery of some dull elf 2 reading her who did not understand her and did not appreciate her beauty.
    And so he was her champion, but he quickly found himself no match against a skilled opponent who might dismiss her as a romance novelist or a creator of simplistic plots that had only the inconsequential goal of marrying young girls of moderate means to slightly older men of substantial means.
    It was those insights he most desired now.
What does she think of Charlotte emulating Emma? Does she agree that Sidney Parker is unsuitable?
He decided to send his Jane another email, feeling foolish at this point in his life to be pursuing a girl.
    1 Proofreader Maryann O’Brien has thought of two Austen characters who got what they deserved. Aunt Norris resolves to quit Mansfield Park with Mrs Rushworth (Maria Bertram who was), following that woman’s disgrace—“…where, shut up together with little society, on one side no affection, on the other no judgment, it may be reasonably supposed that their tempers became their mutual punishment.”
    2 In a letter to her sister, regarding some lapses in attribution she had found in the proof of
Pride and Prejudice
, Austen wrote: “There are a few typical [typographic] errors; and a ‘said he,’ or a ‘said she,’ would sometimes make the dialogue more immediately clear; but ‘I do not write for such dull elves, as have not a great deal of ingenuity themselves.’” “Dull elves” is probably an allusion to a line from Sir Walter Scott’s epic poem
Marmion
: “I do not rhyme to that dull elf/ Who cannot image to himself/”

UK book launch
May I introduce Mr Colin Firth?
    “H ey Miss Austen,” Tony her driver said. “Now I know who you are! You’re famous!” He was waiting for her with the limo door open and a copy of
The Daily Mail
with its story of the book launch. Mary looked at it in amazement while he took her garment bag from her.
    The story included their new portrait of Jane and also a photo of herself as Jane at the New York book signing last week.
    And so Mary now saw herself publicly identified as Jane Austen for the first time. Naturally she had mixed emotions. It was irritating to be considered famous for being someone else. At least an actress would be credited for her work, but she must toil away in obscurity. She’d been warned of that when she had applied for the job, but she never imagined she’d be someone famous on two continents.
    She sighed, just a little sigh that she hoped Jane wouldn’t notice, and thanked Tony.
    “Could you please sign it for me? I bought one of your books but I forgot to bring it with me.”
    “Sure Tony,” Mary said, lapsing into American, and then catching herself and adding, “it would be a pleasure.”
    He opened the car door for her and waited an extra few seconds for Jane to enter, although she had preceded Mary. She’d been caught in car doors often enough that she’d learned to enter first. Tony finally closed the door, put the garment bag in the boot and ran around to the driver’s door. Mary took the opportunity to get a pen from her